The 2014 United Kingdom local elections were held on 22 May 2014. Usually these elections are held on the first Thursday in May but were postponed to coincide with the 2014 European Parliament Elections. Direct elections were held for all 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 74 district/borough councils, 20 unitary authorities and various mayoral posts in England and elections to the new councils in Northern Ireland.

Shift of control[edit]

This table depicts how the control of local councils shifted in this election.

The data along the diagonal represents no shift in control in that number of councils: for example, Chorley was among the solid colour no change 73 Labour controlled councils. The other cells represent the shifts of control: for example, Harrow was one of five councils of which Labour gained control from No Overall Control. The intensity of the colour in a table cell other than the diagonal reflects the relative number of losses in council control suffered by each party.

Harrow's Council was elected in 2010 with a Labour majority but divisions within this majority in 2013 led to a coalition struck between the Conservatives and the Independent Labour Group (formed of eight ex-Labour councillors). Conservatives withdrew their support for Independent Labour on 16 September 2013 leading to a brief Conservative minority administration.

Metropolitan boroughs[edit]

One third of the seats in all 36 Metropolitan Boroughs were up for election (showing those elected and each party's total in the new council).

Northern Ireland[edit]

These were the first elections to the 11 new 'super-councils' in Northern Ireland, following a reorganisation. These will operate in shadow form for one year, with the current 26 councils existing in parallel.[6]

The eleven new districts

Leading party in each new council.Sinn Féin won more seats than any other party in (1) Belfast, (9) Mid-Ulster, (10) Derry & Strabane and (11) Fermanagh & Omagh. Sinn Féin and the SDLP each elected more councillors in (5) Newry, Mourne & Down than any other party. The Democratic Unionist Party won more seats than any other party in each of the other six councils, and won as many as all the other parties combined in (4) Lisburn & Castlereagh.

Party composition of new councils[edit]

The party abbreviations in this table are explained in the total-vote table that follows it.

Electoral administration[edit]

Eligibility to vote[edit]

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) who were aged 18 or over on the day of the election were entitled to vote in the local elections. Those who were temporarily away from their ordinary address (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital) were also entitled to vote in the local elections,[8] although those who have moved abroad and registered as overseas electors cannot vote in the local elections. Those who were registered to vote at more than one address (such as a university student who has a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) were entitled to vote in the local elections at each address, as long as they were not in the same local government area.[9][10]

Enacting legislation[edit]

These elections were held on 22 May 2014 as provided by 'The Local Elections (Ordinary Day of Elections in 2014) Order 2013' (S.I. 2013/2277).[11][12][13][6]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

^ abcdAll vote shares in the infobox are projected national vote shares calculated by the BBC.

^ abcdSwing figures are between the BBC national projected vote share extrapolation from United Kingdom local elections, 2013, and the BBC equivalent vote share projection from these local elections held in different areas